


Play of the Game

by Jennypen



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Just a little light fluff, M/M, Multi, Yes matt is aromantic, the mildest bit of anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 22:37:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12285711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jennypen/pseuds/Jennypen
Summary: They're close to finding Matt. Lance should be happy about it, should be happy for Shiro, but he can't help but wonder - will this mean losing Shiro?





	Play of the Game

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a while back for the Multiship zine :) There are practically more relationship tags than words in the fic but hey ho.

Exes, right?

Everyone’s kinda scared of exes. Doesn’t matter how often you remind yourself that they’re not together anymore and that was for a reason, they still remain perfect - stripped of conflict and rosied by the soft honey of time, a gentle, functioning politeness salvaged from the debris field of a sunken relationship, with history adding enough pretext for there to appear seeming context. If there was one thing movies had taught Lance about exes, it was that they were definitely something to be feared.

For everything else, he was flying by the seat of his pants - a short lifetime of PG13 romcoms didn’t quite prepare him for the reality of his first relationship turning out to be with two men, but Lance felt he was winging it pretty well, all things considered. Luckily, it turned out Shiro and Keith were as clueless (and from what Shiro told him, everyone is clueless in a new relationship while they learn each other), but Lance was somewhat enjoying the journey of discovery together - ticking off a physical rhythm first, they gradually explored preferences and experiences, eventually building up, in the most classic way, to expressing affection. Keith accidentally shotgunned them into a new stratosphere of communicating worries when he pulled off what would have been a suicide dive for anyone else in order to take down a Ro-Beast, and Shiro had taken him to task that evening, dragging Lance into it to hammer the point home about how communication and consideration had to shape their actions. Shiro was mostly good at communication, Lance thought, but then, he’d had practice, and there lay the issue.

Matt Holt was definitely Shiro’s hypocrisy - the one question Lance couldn’t ask, and Shiro had never volunteered - any discussion of Matt was always constructive about finding him, and Lance wasn’t the kind of ass who would follow up any talk about prison ships and mining prisoners with, _‘Hey, Shiro, were you and Matt a thing?’_ , so he was left to himself to attempt to work it out.

There were enough clues to the anxiously observant mind, though - the way Shiro’s expression softened when Pidge mentioned her brother, the slight lilt in how he spoke Matt’s name. Then there had been a few occasions Shiro had unintentionally roused Lance from sleep by snuggling in behind him late into the night. Usually Lance slept like the dead but these few times he’d stirred to find Shiro’s arms settling around his middle, forehead dipped against Lance’s shoulder blades. Each time, the next morning had revealed Shiro had stayed up late struggling through data from a Galran data archive Pidge had managed to steal, but was vast enough to likely take months to decrypt and work through. On the one hand, it was reassuring that Shiro’s comfort was in his and Keith’s sleeping company, but Lance still wished he knew more - was it guilt or loss that drove him?

They were getting closer to an answer - between Shiro’s worsening sleep schedule and Pidge’s energetic babble becoming more and more incoherent, the nervous tension in the air became more palpable by the day, and Lance’s worries only grew.

“Hey, uh, Keith?” Lance asked one morning, attempting a nonchalance that Keith’s snap-to expression told him he’d missed entirely.

“What’s wrong.” Keith answered, more a statement than a question, and Lance brought up his hands in a stalling gesture.

“Whaaaaat? Why would you think something’s wrong? Don’t jump to conclusions.”

“Lance.” Keith’s tone carried a lack of patience that Lance knew well - Keith hated beating around the bush, and, unfortunately, after weeks of actually talking to real people he’d become far more adept at picking up behaviour than Lance would ever have given him credit for.

Dammit.

“Please tell me what is bothering you.” The words sounded awkward, but Lance looked up to see Keith, clearly uncomfortable, fidgeting where he stood, lower jaw jutting out, and his resolve slipped away. Keith was trying, because he cared, even though it did not come anything close to naturally for him.

Lance sighed.

“Alright this is the most stupid thing-“

“-Probably.”

“-Shut up!” He shoved Keith in the arm, unable to fight the slow smile that crept across his face in tandem with Keith’s own grin. “Alright, I already feel stupid. Were Shiro and Matt… a thing?”

“A thing?” Keith asked, eyes narrowing in confusion. “Oh! You mean like… a couple thing.”

“Keith!” Lance said, scandalised, but unsure what by. “…Yes.”

“You’d have to ask Shiro,” Keith said, nodding sagely.

“Wait, what the hell, Keith!?” Lance said sharply. “Are you kidding me? I could barely ask YOU do you honestly think I’m gonna just walk up to Shiro and be like ‘oh, hey Shiro, so like you know your best friend who didn’t get rescued like you did, and we’re only hoping he’s still alive, you know him? Were you canoodling?”

Keith snorted. “Did you just say ‘canoodling?’”

“This is why I didn’t want to say anything!”

“You literally started this conversation.”

“I didn’t! …I did, didn’t I.” Keith’s smile was wide, now, and he put his hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“Just… trust me on this, go talk to Shiro.”

“Talk to me about what?” Shiro said, choosing that exact moment to step onto the training deck, and after Lance had swallowed down the heart that had attempted to climb up his throat just then, he realised that Shiro had, indeed, chosen the moment, as it was too suspiciously perfect for him to have just happened in at that moment.

“Lance wants to ask you about Matt,” Keith said, and Lance had never been so betrayed in his life. He glared furiously at Keith, who winked as he left the room, hanging Lance out to dry and leaving Lance alone with his embarrassment.

And Shiro.

And Shiro’s frown.

_Oh help._

Shiro took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second, exhaling slowly. His smile was gentle, patient. “What about Matt?”

“Oh! I just wanted to.. Uh… ask about… Matt’s… uh… do you know any more about where that freedom fighter group are?” The words tasted sour as Lance said them, the lie obvious even to himself. Shiro’s smile saddened a little.

“Lance.”

“I can’t!” Lance retorted, instantly, and he watched Shiro jerk with the interjection. “God, it’s so awkward…”

Shiro closed the distance between them, and Lance found himself being drawn into a gentle embrace. Shiro patted the back of his neck and he ducked his head, nuzzling closer to Shiro’s chest. “Just… try.”

Godammit, who made Shiro and how did they get him this nice?

Lance blew out a breath. “Are you gonna get back together with Matt?”

He felt Shiro stiffen, felt it echo painfully in his own chest.

“I don’t know,” Shiro answered, and that was all the confirmation Lance needed. He was bringing up his arms to push Shiro away, but Shiro beat him to it and pulled back, only to lean down and look Lance in the eye.

 _‘Man, you are pretty as hell,’_ Lance thought to himself.

“Don’t,” Shiro said, warmly patient, eyes crinkling with a tender smile. “Don’t walk away without letting me explain. You don’t have anything to worry about with this, I promise. Matt is… well, he’s certainly an interesting guy. It’s pretty hard to put into words, but, uhm…”

“Boyfriends is a word,” Lance said in a tiny voice.

To his surprise, Shiro chuckled. “It is, but it’s not the right word. Boyfriends is the right word for you and me and Keith. You know know we’re all figuring out this more-than-one-person thing together-“

“Polyamory,” Lance interjected.

“-Polyamory,” Shiro continued, smile broadening. “Another right word. We’re working it out together, but I think it’s pretty clear that how I feel about Keith doesn’t impact or take away how I feel about you, right?”

“Well, duh,” Lance said. “Same goes for me.”

“Right. And Keith knows that how you and I feel about each other doesn’t reduce anything of how we feel about him.”

“Yeah…” Lance said, seeing where this was going, and starting to feel a little more foolish.

“Matt’s not really a relationship kinda guy - we were attracted to each other, for sure, and we had some good times but he’s also pretty respectful of people’s feelings, even if he doesn’t feel them the same way other people do. The last thing he’d want to do is upset someone’s relationship, trust me.”

Lance wasn’t quite sure he understood that frame of mind - was Shiro implying he and Matt were friends with benefits? Or something different?

“It’s hard to explain, but there’s a right word for it too, which is queerplatonic.”

Lance’s face must have been as blank as his understanding, because Shiro pulled him into a cuddle. He could hear the rumbling in Shiro’s chest as the older man laughed. “You… when we find Matt, you’ll see and you’ll understand, okay? I know you don’t do the jealousy thing, so this is an insecurity thing, right?”

Lance nodded, fighting the urge to sniffle as he felt his eyes start to sting.

“Oh, Lance,” Shiro said, hugging him tighter. “I promise, you have nothing to worry about, okay? I love you, and no outside force could ever touch that. There’s a big section in my heart that’s just for Lance. It just so happens I can do multiple sections at once, alright? Just like you can, just like Keith can.”

“I love you too,” Lance answered, voice raw, ducking his head to curl up more in Shiro’s arms. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be an idiot.”

“You’re not,” Shiro soothed, kissing the top of Lance’s head. “This is all new and weird, and against everything we were brought up to have an understanding of, okay? There’s gonna be ups and downs, we just have to stick together and we’ll get through them.”

Lance nodded, letting Shiro smooth a hand down his cheek and tilt his chin up to meet him in the sweetest kiss Lance had ever had. When it was over, which felt like actual minutes later, Shiro gazed down at him and Lance was again struck by just how lovely his face was - Shiro being the ultimate example of the theory that a kind soul shines through from within.

“Thanks, Shiro.”

“Any time. Just… when you meet Matt, you’re gonna remember this conversation and laugh a lot, okay?”

“Why?”

“Matt is… you’ll see.” He shifted back, looking Lance up and down with a knowing smile. “Oh, you’ll definitely see.”

* * *

Trying to work out what on Earth (or, indeed, in space) Shiro meant by that took up a lot of Lance’s mental processes over the next few weeks - to the point that in the pre-mission briefing, while Allura and Shiro outlined the details of the moon on which the freedom fighters who’d rescued Matt were known to have been cornered, at least half of Lance’s attention was stolen by the excitement at finally getting to meet Matt and discover what put that fond smile on Shiro’s face.

Lance caught Shiro’s eye for a moment and they shared an electrified look.

Seemed like Shiro couldn’t wait for Lance to find out, either, whatever it was he knew.

* * *

There was an incomparable feeling, when a mission went right - when you feel the blood pumping in your ears, feel the adrenaline making your heart pound and breath deep in your lungs, when everything feels sharper and more focused and your world coloured a deep orange as your entire body celebrates the rush of victory, of triumph, of striking back against the universal constant of cruelty with a sharp dose of justice.

They all felt it, but Lance felt it most of all - cheering and whooping through his comms as he and Blue performed a spacial barrel roll that was partly an expression of sheer joy, and partly showing off in front of his passenger.

“Alright, knock it off, Lance,” Pidge groaned through his helmet, her voice weary but faintly amused. “If you kill my brother right after we rescued him and all those freedom fighters from the jaws of Galra-flavoured death, you won’t want to know how much I will hurt you.”

“You wound me, Pidge,” Lance said with mock betrayal, and beside him he heard Matt snort.

“She threatening you?”

“Yeah, but she knows if I hold her by her forehead her tiny arms can’t reach me so her threats mean nothing.”

“I can still hear you.”

“You’re meant to,” he said in a sing-song voice, pulling Blue back into formation with the other four lions.

“Alright, take it easy,” Shiro, easily commanding but with that same hint of laughter that Lance had heard from Pidge - they were all feeling it, a shared exhilaration from a job very well done. “Keep it together, wormhole in 5, Allura?”

“Understood. See you shortly, Paladins.”

The blackness of space burst into light as Allura’s wormhole appeared before them, right on Shiro’s timing. “Whoa,” Matt said beside him, and Lance chanced a quick peek at his face - lit up by the anomaly, eyes stunned wide, corners of his mouth curved upward with happy wonder, and Lance definitely understood where Shiro’s attraction had come from - without the cloud of worry hanging over him, Lance’s healthy virility let itself be known.

Alright, so Matt Holt was cute. No argument there.

* * *

The next day passed in a blur - Allura moved lightning-quick to hammer out an agreement with the freedom fighters who, stunned at their rescue by the Voltron of legend, seemed thrilled to ally themselves, and it was only a matter of hours before there were already plans being laid out to hunt down Commander Holt, still a guest of the empire somewhere in the far reaches of the galaxy. Buoyant with success, it felt like it would only be a matter of time before he, too, was returned to the fold.

Dinner was a chaotic affair - everyone present was so full of energy that there was loud chatter, raucous tall tales from every side. Across the table, Lance watched Matt and Shiro talk quietly amongst themselves and felt only happiness at their being able to rekindle a bond that was snatched from them by the hands of fate.

Afterwards, he slunk off towards the showers, vision heavy with nunvil, determined to reward himself with one of his last modified facepacks. At some point he’d have to persuade everyone to make another stop off at the Space Mall, but for now, he deserved this. Showering first, it felt good to slough off the remains of battle from his tired skin, until he was flushed pink and squeaky-clean. Wrapping a robe around him, he towelled up his hair and sat on a comfortable chair in front of a large mirror, revelling in the feeling of the cool cream as he slathered it across his face, humming to himself all the while.

He was so focused that he didn’t notice footsteps behind him, until a voice made him jump almost out of his shiny skin.

“I figured you for a guy who takes care of himself. I knew Shiro had good taste.”

Matt Holt was standing behind him, smirking at him in the mirror.

“Hi!” Lance blurted, surprised. “I… uhm… he told you? About us?”

“Yeah, but he didn’t have to,” Matt answered. “Could practically smell it on you three from a mile off. I’m really glad - he’s such a softie, he deserves love.”

“Oh. Yeah, he does,” Lance responded, glad this was something they could agree on. Matt was about Keith’s height, so ordinarily he would’ve had to look down at him to meet his eyes, but Lance was seated, and Matt’s eyes were sparkling as he looked almost through Lance.

“So, cards on the table. You’re hot as hell, even without the whole ‘coming to my rescue’ thing making you even hotter, and I know you’ve got that thing going with the other two and that’s great, but I just wanted to let you know,” he paused, shooting Lance a look that made Lance’s jaw drop in disbelief, “You ever feel like having a little fun, I am totally, totally down.”

He lowered his face to peck Lance in the cheek, then patted him on the shoulder. “No pressure, hot stuff. Just thought you should know. Later!”

Lance watched Matt’s back as he walked out of the shower room, and sagged a little in the chair when the door slid closed behind him.

 _‘Oh,’_ he thought to himself, remembering Shiro's warning and starting to chuckle. _‘That’s what Shiro meant.’_

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/supergayjen)|[tumblr](https://jennypen.tumblr.com)


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